In many ways, Frank Kaminsky was a perfect storm of basketball ability. We can only speculate what the basketball gods were thinking as they poured pinpoint passing, lights-out shooting and sensational footwork into the former Badger’s seven-foot frame.

Wearing a cardinal red suit and specially designed Jordan sneakers, Frank Kaminsky walked out onto the court at halftime of Wisconsin’s (5-10 Big Ten, 12-16 overall) eventual 57-53 win over No. 6 Purdue (12-3, 23-5) and promptly hugged his family who was standing on the baseline closest to UW’s bench.More than a dozen of his former teammates including Sam Dekker, Nigel Hayes, Bronson Koenig, Josh Gasser and his best friend, Jordan Smith among others watched feet away on the very same baseline.After the No. 44 banner was raised to the Kohl Center rafters, Kaminsky took the microphone from UW Athletic Director Barry Alvarez and addressed the more than 17,000 members of the Kohl Center faithful in attendance.“I’m a little bit nervous so I’m gonna try to get through this,” he said.

After No. 20 Michigan’s (9-5 Big Ten, 20-7 overall) win over Wisconsin (4-10, 11-16), Wolverine head coach John Beilein said that one of, if not the most important point of his team’s defensive gameplan was to prevent Badger redshirt junior forward Ethan Happ from scoring 40 points.Happ finished with 29 points, 11 below Beilein’s target, and Wisconsin, as a team, lost by that very same margin, 83-72.

As the Wisconsin men’s basketball team took to the road Thursday night in the midst of a season-long five-game losing streak, the Badgers (4-9 Big Ten, 11-15 overall) put their faith in the steady hands of Ethan Happ as they dispatched Illinois (3-9, 12-13) 78-69.The redshirt junior forward was the only fully functional aspect of the UW offense against the Fighting Illini, shredding the UI defense from the opening tip to the final whistle.

On December 9, 2017, T.J. Schlundt experienced his first real taste of college basketball. The redshirt junior guard was thrust into Wisconsin’s rotation on short notice, as UW was unexpectedly without both Kobe King and D’Mitrik Trice for its matchup with in-state rival Marquette.

Having lost seven of eight games — four of which were double-digit losses — the Wisconsin men’s basketball team (3-8 Big Ten, 10-14 overall) heads to College Park, Md., Sunday staring down the barrel of its worst nine-game stretch in 20 years.

Less than ten minutes after addressing the media following Wisconsin’s (3-7 Big Ten, 10-13 overall) 74-63 loss to Nebraska (8-4, 17-8), a visibly saddened Ethan Happ was back on the Kohl Center floor putting up free throws.Happ, sporting a different pair of sneakers then the pair he played in earlier in the evening, was the lone Badger on the floor at the time.

Ethan Happ knew the Badgers needed a change if they wanted to turn their season around.Monday night at the Kohl Center, he would take up that call by himself, hitting his first career 3-pointer in the first half.

After a frustrating two-game road trip, the Wisconsin men’s basketball team (3-6 Big Ten, 10-12 overall) returns home Monday evening to meet the Nebraska Cornhuskers (7-4, 16-8) for the second time this year.